1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a four-wheeled buggy, and more particularly to a body construction of a power-driven four-wheeled buggy provided with each pair of front and rear wheels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A four-wheeled buggy is known for use as an all terrain vehicle for travelling on a pasture, farm, dune, wasteland or the like. The U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,749,211, 4,773,661, 4,773,675, 4,798,400 and 4,832,399 disclose body constructions in use for such kinds of four-wheeled buggies. In these four-wheeled buggies, a pair of right and left parallel main frames extend rectilinearly in a forward and backward direction of the vehicle and support on the front end thereof a pair of front wheels in such a way as to permit steering through an independent suspension device. On the rear end of the main frames an internal combustion engine and a transmission as a power device are supported in a forwardly and backwardly extending state and a pair of rear wheels are carried through a suspension device at the rear of the transmission. The front or rear wheels are adapted to be driven by power from the internal combustion engine. With respect to the engine, a crank shaft extends laterally to be normal to the travelling direction of the vehicle.
The main frames are formed of large-sized rectangular pipe and above the intermediate points of the main frames a bench type seat is arranged in such a manner that the driver operates the vehicle in a sitting posture thereon. From the viewpoint of strength it is preferable to extend the main frames in close vicinity to the front wheels and to the rear wheels. In the conventional vehicle constructions, however, the rear wheels are carried remote from the main frames, and thus it is required to have the front wheels and the rear wheels arranged close to the main frames. Further, component parts for driving and steering the front wheels are arranged generally around and beneath the front ends of the main frames to be at the lowermost height from ground, so that these parts will be susceptible to hitting the ground due to unevenness thereof, for example, when the vehicle travels on the wasteland. Therefore, if the distance from ground is elevated increased, the seat will be arranged at the higher position because of the horizontally straight configuration of the main frames, thereby incurring the difficulty in getting on and off of the vehicle and thereby causing a center of gravity of the vehicle to go up. As described above, such large-sized main frames are manufactured generally in a straight configuration in view of precision and cost so as to make getting on and off operations difficult and the center of gravity elevated. It is therefore desirable to provide such a main frame construction as not only to enable the rider to easily get on and off the vehicle but also to meet the requirements of a lower center of gravity and of more competent manufacturing. Furthermore, the longitudinally extending power device makes the vehicle longer and the mass concentration of the vehicle disadvantageous, whereby the vehicle may not be compact in construction. Accordingly, it is also desirable to provide as compact vehicle construction as possible to ensure a high driveability.